Elliott: WBC memories from 2006 Loewen, Stern, Whitt
Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt, who has held the job since 1999 — except for the Beijing Olympics when Terry Puhl managed.
March 5, 2026
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Some World Baseball Classic memories from the first event ...
March 6, 2006, Scottsdale Stadium, workout day.
Canada was all set to start LHP Erik Bedard (Navan, Ont.), its most experienced starter in Game 2 against Team USA. When manager Ernie Whitt gathered the dandelions of Canadian journalism, he explained that a decision had been made:
Bedard would start the opener the next day against South Africa. Adam Loewen (Surrey, B.C.), who had not pitched above double-A, would face the Americans and Jeff Francis (North Delta, B.C.) would take on Mexico. Bedard had made 50 starts for the Baltimore Orioles, Francis had made 40 for the Colorado Rockies.
Loewen, meanwhile, had made 68 for the mighty class-A Aberdeen IronBirds, class-A Frederick Keys and class-A Delmarva Shorebirds. I’d written about Loewen since he was in grade 11 and he went in the first round in 2002 (fourth overall, the highest ever for a Canadian high schooler).
I had known Whitt for 22 years and wanted Canada to do well -- like most Canadians. I wound up 1-on-1 with Whitt and said something I’d never ever said to a manager before or since:
Former Walleye Chief LHP Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC), 21, pitched 3 2/3 scoreless against Team USA.
“How can you start a 21-year-old kid against Team USA? You know you might ruin his career,” I told Whitt.
In all the time I have known Whitt, I have only seen him get angry a few times when:
_ Jimmy Key used scissors to cut the bristles off his hairbrush. I was talking with Whitt as he quickly brushed his hair on a getaway day at Exhibition Stadium -- only to suddenly find out his scalp was bleeding.
_ Joe Brinkman umping.
_ Paul Godfrey and J.P. Ricciardi firing him in 2008 as manager Cito Gaston returned with his own set of coaches.
He could have become very angry with me. Whitt calmly assured me Loewen would be able to handle himself.
March 6, 2006, Scottsdale Stadium vs. South Africa.
My opinion of the rotation had spread. During batting practice, two major-league general managers phoned me and said you “keep your nose out of Ernie Whitt and Greg Hamilton’s business -- they know what they are doing.”
That night, Bedard (Navan, Ont.) pitched four scoreless innings, striking out six, leaving with a 3-0 lead. However, the young South Africans scored four times -- three earned -- facing Paul Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), Mike Meyers (Tillsonburg, Ont.) and Chris Reitsma (Calgary, Alta.) to take an 8-7 lead into the top of the nervy ninth.
Ryan Radmanovich (Calgary, Alta.) led off with a triple and scored on a double by Adam Stern (London, Ont.) to tie the score. Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) bunted and the third baseman threw the ball away to give Canada the lead. Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) walked, Jason Bay (Trail, BC) forced Clapp at second, Orr scored on a wild pitch and then Sebastien Boucher (Gatineau, Que.) doubled home Bay. Jesse Crain (Toronto, Ont.) pitched a scoreless ninth to save an embarrassing night for Canada and an 11-8 win.
Chase Field, March 8.
I’d written a preview piece on Canada heading into the WBC for my friend Allan Simpson at Baseball America. The headline read “Canada fields best team ever.” It was because it was the first time major leaguers were allowed to play internationally.
Every person I knew in the press box -- from New York to San Diego, everyone except for the guy making popcorn -- gave me variations of shots regarding their reactions to my BA story:
Like “Best team ever?”
This one took some research: “Canada’s best team almost lost to a team with two minor leaguers, one kid attending North Dakota and a bunch of amateurs?”
Or “Canada needed four in the ninth to beat a bunch of South African teenagers who cashed in their first-place tickets, flew early and spent three days in Vegas?”
And even, “This might be a mercy-rule game.”
Then the game started ... Young Mr. Loewen did not need any protective help from me. Whitt and Hamilton knew what they were doing. Loewen pitched 3 2/3 scoreless facing a Team USA roster which included what we thought would be five future Hall of Famers (Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens). Clemens and A-Rod do not have plaques in Cooperstown, although Chase Utley might make it. With seven years remaining on the ballot, he received 59.1% of the required 75% when the votes were counted in January. Our Canadian squad had Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) coaching first base.
Loewen made the majors three times: as a starter with the Orioles in 2007, as an outfielder with the Blue Jays in 2011 and as a reliever with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2016.
And then the Canada bats began to make noise ...
Clapp tripled and scored on a Justin Morneau grounder in the first ... Stern tripled home Aaron Guiel in the second ... Pete Laforest singled in Jason Bay and Stern hit a two-run single to make it 5-0 in the third ... Matt Stairs hit a two-run single scoring Bay and Justin Morneau in the fourth ... and then Stern hit an inside-the-park homer in the fifth, making it 8-0.
Besides dominating at the plate, Stern put on a show in centre field.
When you start out writing, you are taught you can’t cheer/hope/root for a team. Because if you do and your team loses it will seriously affect your work. To my mind I had only violated that rule once -- at the 1984 World Juniors when Canada played Russia (a 2-2 tie).
But up 8-0 ... this was going to be an awful one not to be invested in. And a tougher one to write if they blew it.
My phone rang and it was Ryan Walsh, crack producer at The Fan wanting an interview. I declined. Two minutes later Bob McCown phoned. “You have to come on. This is great. The Great USA getting hammered.” Again, I declined explaining “Robert, gloating in the sixth would be like packing the bats away ... am not jinxing anything. I’ll go on 30 seconds after the last pitch of the game.”
It didn’t stay 8-0 for long as ...
Ken Griffey doubled to score Michael Young ... Derrek Lee singled home Jeff Francoeur ... Jason Varitek hit a grand slam to cut the lead to 8-6 in the fifth.
With two out in the eighth with Vernon Wells and Johnny Damon on base, Utley hit what looked like a three-run game-winning home run. Utley is usually stone faced, but he dropped the bat and raised his hands. He thought he got the pitch. Instead, Stern caught the ball against the wall in centre. Never in doubt.
In the top of the ninth, USA 1B Mark Teixeira said to first base coach Walker: “Dang, I thought Chase got that one.”
Walker replied, “Not to worry, the Russian judge gave him a perfect 10 for style.”
Steve Green (Greenfield Park, Que.) pitched a 1-2-3-4 scoreless ninth and when Morneau fielded Teixeira’s ground ball for the 27th and final out, I punched seatmate Richard Griffin, sitting beside me, under the seat.
Then, I called McCown.
The WBC is a like the Olympics -- media is not allowed inside. Out came Peter Orr and I asked how crazy it was inside the Canada clubhouse. He explained that the TV was tuned to ESPN’s headline show. So that meant Stern’s inside-the-parker was on about every 15 minutes,
On the replay, Stern would be rounding the bases at about shortstop and players would yell, “Send him, send him.”
Some screamed, “Is he going to make it?”
And time after time, Stern would slide in safely and the dressing room went crazy.
Bob Nightengale, of USA Today, asked me if it was close to Paul Henderson’s goal. I said, “It was for baseball.”
Nightengale and I went to eat, he drove home and I walked back to the hotel. On the way, I saw technical director Jim Baba and Baseball Canada president Ray Carter entering a saloon. So, I followed.
Said Carter: “I hugged (coach) Larry Walker in the clubhouse and said through tears,‘How can a kid’s game make grown men cry?’”
It was the most exciting game “for me,” that I ever saw.
Better than watching the Milwaukee Braves and Lew Burdette win his third game in eight days blanking the New York Yankees 5-0 in Game 7 of the 1957 World Series at Yankee Stadium.
Better than Arty Leeman coming a strike away from a perfect game in the OBA senior semi-final in 1967 at Wallace Park in Oakville. Leeman’s 3-2 pitch looked like a strike, but was adjudged a ball, bringing the tying run to the plate. A liner by Charlie McFeeters was speared by diving third baseman Don Goodridge -- who never dove -- to close out the 2-0 win.
Better than Wallace Johnson’s triple to put the Montreal Expos in the playoffs for the first time at Shea Stadium in 1981.
Better than Steve Rogers beating Hall of Famer Steve Carlton in the 1981 NLCS twice as Rogers pitched 17 2/3 innings, allowing one run.
Better than Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in 1991 in Game 7 of the World Series.
Better than Joe Carter’s home run in Game 6 of 1993. (Tough call? That was work ... we had 13 people there and every half inning someone would ask, “Remember when Kelly Gruber had a bad hamstring in May? Left leg or right.”)
But not more exciting than the 2015 Pan Am gold medal game when Orr scored from first base on a wild pick-off and a throwing error to beat Team USA.
* * *
Chase Field, March 9, Mexico.
Walking out of the dugout with Green, who had the save the night before, a teenager hanging over the dugout yelled to get our attention. Then, he slid the front page of the New York Times, attached to cardboard and covered by plastic.
Green took a look
The fan said, “Could give this to Steve Green and get him to sign it?”
Green said, “I’m Steve Green.” And he signed it.
Had Canada won we’re unsure if the WBC would still exist today. Obviously, this “good idea” had to be a success in the USA. Had Canada won, Team USA would not have advanced to the second round.
A woman from ESPN phoned and asked me to go on for a pre-game interview. I am terrible on TV: not photogenic, my stories sometimes are like that silver ball in a pinball machine and I spend three hours being nervous before the light goes on, so I usually say no.
This woman said she had graduated from the University of Illinois, and her favorite Illini player was Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ont.) so I said yes. She asked me, “How did you get in the clubhouse?” I said that I wasn’t. She said, “Well, you wrote it like you were.” I talked to Peter Orr in the hallway outside.
Oh, OK.
So now we go live and the first question from the host in Bristol, Conn. was “so, how did you get inside the clubhouse?
Yeesh.
Francis did not have a good night, but I do not blame him. He retired Juan Castro on an 0-1 fly ball and Jorge Cantu popped up a 1-0 pitch.
And then it happened. A voice in the first base Canada dugout said, “Four pitches, two outs ... this is going to be a quick game.”
He might as well herded a pack of black cats in front of Francis.
Francis hit Vinny Castilla with a 3-2 pitch. Castilla walked all the way to the backstop as the crowd of 15,744 booed Francis. Castilla did not need surgery.
Erubiel Durazo, Geronimo Gil, Luis Alfonso Garcia and Miguel Ojeda each doubled in a run before the inning was over.
With one out in the second, Cantu hit a two-run homer and Francis was done.
Four pitches, two outs, quick game. Bad karma
* * *
Not every spring but any spring I went to Arizona and wound up lost in downtown Phoenix, I’d pass Chase Field and call someone leaving a message “just driving … driving past the Chase Field shellacking.”
* * *
As before each WBC, I contacted Whitt. Since I am not going this year, I sent him a text about a week ago joking that I’d be back soon with this year’s rotation.
Whitt replied, “I will miss your input, but I shall try my best.”